Cape Coral man charged in shooting death of door-to-door salesman

…Officers arrested Kenneth Bailey Roop, 52, and charged him with second-degree murder in the death of Nicholas Rainey, 30, a meat salesman for Blue Ribbon Steak and Seafood. Cape police said the shooting occurred in front of Roop’s home at 1815 SW 30th Terrace.

Gene Snyder, a former volunteer firefighter who lives across a canal from the shooting scene, said he witnessed part of the incident. He said his wife heard two gunshots, so he rushed to the house to help.

What happened next, he said, was horrifying.

“I went to bend over to help the guy on the ground, the victim, and out of the garage I heard something: ‘I’ll kill everybody or shoot everybody,’ Snyder said. “And he cocked his gun and thank God for the Collier County sheriff’s (deputy), she probably saved my life and everybody else’s life that was in the area,” Snyder said.

He said the deputy pulled her service weapon on Roop and ordered him twice to place his gun on the ground before he complied.

Snyder said Roop appeared dirty and disheveled.

“When he came out of the garage, he looked totally deranged to me,” he said. “He looked like he was off the deep end.”

He said Roop told the off-duty deputy, as well as the Cape officer who arrested him, the shooting was justified.

“He was telling the officer, ‘he stepped on my property, he trespassed, I’ll kill anybody that steps on my property,’ somewhere along them lines. It was just unbelievable,” Snyder said.